
'^ofco. v ;\ 
JUN 8 1898 | 



*>£j»Afrr*^ 



\. 



REMINISCENCE 



AND 



OTHER POEMS 



— BY 



AELLA GREENE. 



Published in 1898. 



JUN -81898 

r of <*?f 









TWO COPIES RECEIVED. 



75 iH* 



HO 



Copyright, 1898, 

BY 

AELLA GREENE. 



THE COTTAGER PMNT, ATHOL, MASS. 



To My New England Friends 



CONTENTS. 



REMINISCENCE: 

A MISSIVE 
THE OLD ROAD 

THE "CENTRE" AND "NAZARETH' 
THE PARSON AND THE DEACON 
THE SUNDAY TEACHER 
•MAJOR" BROWN 
THE COBBLER AND THE SMITH 
ABIJAH BEERS 
GABE THOMPSON 
SQUIRE SMITH 
RETROSPECT 
ENVOY 

IN '98: 

ONWARD 

DEWEY AND THE DONS 

THE SECOND 



OTHER POEMS: 



A TRIBUTE 
NATURE'S MOODS 
A SONG OF OTSEGO 
"THE PAPER" 
THE ALLOPATHS 
SOME CRITICS 



REMINISCENCE 



A MISSIVE. 



T~)EAR John May fair of Mansfield Square, 

My playmate and my friend, 
Let courts and clients wait while you 
Give heed to verse I send 

Inviting yuu to visit soon 

The scenes we knew of yore ; 
Come, take the time to try your hand 

At being boy once more. 

Forget your briefs and drop the cares 
Whose weight would break you down ; 

Go countryward, and there remain 
Until robust and brown, 

You come to work with that high zest 

That makes all labor play, 
But careful goes through drudgery 

In that majestic way 



10 A MISSIVE 



Which lifts it from the commonplace 

And gives it meaning high — 
The hardness where the ladder rests 

That reaches to the sky ! 

Dear friend, let memory paint with all 

Her tenderness of care 
The neighborhood that was our world, 

And every object there ! 

The pansied yard, the slant well-sweep, 

And apple orchard near, 
The ancient farm-house, broad and red, 

By many memories dear, 

The autumn woods, the golden maize, 

And old Thanksgiving day, 
The winter wood-pile at the door, 

And drifts that choked the way, 

The home-made hand-sleds and the joys 

Of coasting down the hill, 
And all the scenes of rustic cheer, 

Appear before us still ! 



A MISSIVE XI 



Delightful were the fragrant days 

At springtime on the hill, 
Whe 1 boys rejoiced to see the wealth 

Of maple trees distil 

And gathered it and heard it sing, 

Above the laughing fire, 
A carol sweet as ever breathed 

From angel lip or lyre ! 

How sweetly sounded o'er the field 
Wherein you hoed the corn 

The message through the sunlit air 
Of that glad dinner horn ! 

You still preserve that relic rare 

Of olden country ways ; 
O, may as pleasant sound to you 

The trump of future days ! 

The hayfield from the pasture wide 

Was parted by a lane 
And thick-leaved maples where we hid 

When pattered down the rain. 



A MISSIVE 



In other days before those things 
The mow- machines came round, 

The country boys had chance to hear 
The scythe's melodious sound. 

It was their task to spread the grass 

And coax it into hay — 
O, there was work as well as sport, 

All on a h lying day — 

Especially when threatening clouds 
Spread o'er the darkened sky, 

And rakes flew fast, and flew the carts, 
To get the hay in dry. 

Within a grove between our homes 

A brook and lumber mill 
For us made merry chorus once — 

We hear that music still, 

Although the saw ceased long ago 

Its musical ado 
And smaller seems the meagre brook, 

And less its murmur, too ! 



A MISSIVE 13 



Though time has laid his hands upon 
The scenes our boyhood knew, 

Yet we shall find enough remains 
To pay for the review. 

And sauntering through the fields in which 
When boys we roamed about, 

We'll come upon the brooks wherein 
We angled oft for trout, 

And grander felt in counting up 

Our finny trophies there 
Than heroes knighted for their deeds, 

With all the world to stare ! 

The shed is gone in which you sawed 

The beech and maple wood, 
Where cutter, cart and tools were kept 

And where the grindstone stood 

That wakens lively memories 

Of axes hard to grind 
And of the scythes that sorely tried 

The temper of your mind ! 



14 



A MISSIVE 



You often vowed that when you grew 

Machinery should serve 
To do the work that overtaxed 

The adolescent nerve. 

But other themes than labor aids 
Have filled your mind since then, 

And you have had your axes ground 
By various sorts of men ! 

For you were an assemblyman ; 

And there, on state-house hill, 
Partaking of the root insane, 

You were ambitious still, 

And bent an eye on Washington, 
A goal you reached at last — 

How meagre seems that glory, now 
That 'tis an honor past ! 

While you have been in public life 
Your friend somewhat has trod 

Where literary fellows go, 
A weary way to plod ! 



THE OUT" ROAD 



And yet there have been some to say 
He wrote the proper stuff, 

While other some declared his pen 
Had scrawled about enough ! 

And this is but the lot of most 
Within the writing guild — 

A few, perhaps, have hungered more, 
And some been better filled. 

And so, Mayfair, each did as well 

As does the average lad, 
And found his life to yield about 

As much of good as bad. 



THE OLD ROAD. 



HTHERE, winding round the hillside still, 

And grass-grown, yet, the road, 
Whereon, first dwellers in the iand, 
Our sturdy grandsires trode. 



r6 the old road 



And there we often strolled and thought 

In wonder on the days 
When life was simpler far than ours, 

And worthier, too, of priise, 

The patriotic days, when there, 

The soldiery went on, 
To help the Revolution war, 

And where, when peace was won, 

A few survivors came to tell 

Of bivouac and field, 
And of compatriots who with gore 
Their high devotion sealed. 

Below that road, another where 

We trudged away to school, 
To "make our manners" and to learn 

Hard Colburn's sum and rule. 

And there, until our schoolboy days, 
The ancient stage-coach passed, 

The yellow coach with thoroughbrace, 
And built to have it last. 



THE "CENTRE" AND "NAZARETH" I 7 



In memory still that stage-coach runs, 

And, grand as any king, 
The Jehu sings upon his throne 

The rhymes he used to sing 

Of Yankee Doodle and the way 

That patriotic clown, 
Bedecked with hat and feathers gay, 
Came riding into town. 

Along that way on Sunday morn 
Fared country folk to church, 

To hear the preacher's words pour down 
From off his lofty perch ! 



THE "CENTRE" AND "NAZARETH." 



HTHE steeple yonder marks the place 
Where twenty Smiths or more 

Had dwellings round the meeting-house, 
The hay-scales and the store. 



1 8 THE "CENTRE" AND "NAZARETH 



The school-house on the village green 

Of style in vogue of yore, 
Had but three windows on a side, 

And one above the door. 

There William Wilson taught, who was 

A teacher born and reared, 
Whom all the pupils feared and loved 

And all the town revered. 

He stiil resides within the town, 
And though three score and ten, 

The Smithville people think he is 
The comeliest of men. 

Although in Smithville some things change, 

As modern life demands, 
Yet there, in rigid plainness, still, 

The ancient town-house stands, 

Reminding of town-meeting days 
When Smiths were potent there, 

And always had a Smith for clerk 
And one to hold "the chair." 



THE "CENTRE" AND "NAZARETH' 



Their village was Jerusalem ! 

And consequence that came 
To Smiths "decreed" therein to live 

Outshone all other fame ! 

They were ordained from ancient time 

To have this best of earth ; 
Twas set apart in compliment 

To their predestined worth ! 

Besides the village, they were given 

The choice of seats on high ! 
The best of earth, and foreordained 

To holdings in the sky ! 

Divinely platted out for them, 
Their place was fixed and fast — 

A legacy, itself, and then, 
With what did it contrast? 

For, three miles from the "Centre," was 

The "Nazareth" neighborhood, 
Where dwelt the Browrs whom "Centre" folk 

Thought anything but good ! 



THE "CENTRE" AND "NAZARETH 

The "Centre" had a pound where Smiths 

Drove "Nazareth" cattle in, 
And had a tavern where they said 

The Browns took frequent gin ! 

And they were shiftless and were odd 
Nor sought for worldly means ; 

And so the "Centre" Smiths despised 
The "back-street Nazarenes," 

And thought them due in darkness deep 

That by the old "decrees" 
Was planned to blacken and to chill 

The dread eternities '. 

O ! ever gracious Providence ! 

Inscrutable, but good, 
To bless the Smiths, but damn the Browns 

Of "Nazareth" neighborhood ! 



PARSON AND DEACON. 



AT Smithville Edward Payson Smith 

Was deacon forty years ; 
And he and his at Smithville were 
Without their social peers. 

The most unfeeling of his kin 
Was Deacon Smith, and he 

Was passionless as rock and so 
Not given to vanity ; 

As pure as icebergs and as warm, 

And always circumspect, 
As pulseless as the granite is, 

And therefore as correct ! 

And yet to heaven '-'elect" was he, 
And so to heaven he went ! 

By minister and all the Smiths, 
And Calvin's dosrmas sent ! 



PARSON AND DEACON 

The old-time Smithville minister, 
The Reverend Payson Bright, 

Had gold-bowed spectacles and wore 
A neck-cloth that was white ! 

There in the Centre meeting-house, 
For years, he preached and prayed, 

To cheer the ones elect and make 
The unelect afraid, 

And prove that e'er in Eden blest 

The first man Adam did 
The wicked thing of eating fruit 

That was to him forbid, 

God, who foresaw what man would do, 
Planned that by which he fell, 

And planned the consequent and hot 
Necessity of hell ! 



THE SUNDAY TEACHER. 



VyHAT solemn Sundays those for boys 

Those deacons in their pews ! 
Their gravity that awed us then 
Would scarcely now amuse. 

But dear the hour, with sermon done, 

And benediction said, 
When you and I and other boys 

The Word together read, 

Unhindered by the 'maps and charts 
Which now Gamaliel tries, — 

Machinery contrived to lift 
Immortals to the skies ! 

Twas Samuel Milton, kindly man, 
Heard us say Scripture then ; 

And seem we still, Mayfair, to hear 
His pleasant voice again. 



24 THE SUNDAY TEACHER 



How o'er the One of Nazareth, 

Who did the people good, 
With miracle and parable 

And high beatitude, 

Would Milton's kind, expressive face, 

That brightens yet the years, 
Glow sweet with radiant joyfulness, 

Or sadden unto tears 

That one whom Christ had trusted long 

Should plan his Lord to kill, 
That one like Him the beautiful, 

Must die on Calvary's hill ! 

When Milton said that in that death 

A sacrifice was given 
That every one on earth might have 

A chance to get to heaven — 

"What then," you asked, "of the 'decrees' 

Set forth by Parson Bright, 
That some must go to heavenly bliss 

And some to brimstone plight?" 



THE SUNDAY TEACHER 25 



"O ! boys," he cried, "not Parson Bright, 

Nor Calvin with his creed 
Can match the words from Patmos isle — 

Let's turn, my boys, and read !" 

And then, with words from Olivet, 

He poured quotations till 
In his intensity he read 

The "whosoever will" 

That winds the whole evangel up 

And makes it plain as day 
That Christ who died hath laid for all 

To heaven an open way. 

That day at Milton's house were two 

Who knelt with him alone ; 
And hear we still his earnest words, 

"O Father, bless each one !" 

And if, Mayfair, we've better proved 

Than other boys have been 
And less have learned ourselves about 

The sinfulness of sin, 



26 "major" brown 



We owe it to his counsel then 

And his delightful ways 
That won our hearts and gave a charm 

To all our boyhood days. 

His grave is in God's acre where 

The zephyr gently blows ; 
Let's thither, John, to think and plant 

A lily and a rose ! 



"MAJOR" BROWN. 

(")NE of the clan the Smiths did ban 

Was "Major" Brown, and he 
Was done up brown and broken down 
By woman's coquetry. 

He roamed about, in town and out, 

For shelter and for bread, 
And cast-off clothes, the gift of those 

Who harbored and who fed. 



'MAJOR BROWN 



Though here and there and everywhere 

Well known as "major," yet 
No rank had he in verity, 

Nor any by brevet. 

Always around on muster-ground. 

Decked out for training- day, 
From those who trained at last he gained 

A rank by sobriquet. 

This broken Brown of Smithville town 

And Nazareth neighborhood 
The Smiths thought right to banish quite 

To torrid latitude ! 

His griefs were sent as punishment 

For some wild vagary 
And proved the taint of some complaint 

Sprung from iniquity ! 

And when, at last, the life had passed 

Of this poor innocent, 
The Smiths that day made haste to say 

That straight the "major" went 



28 '-major" brown 



From Smithville down to brimstone-town, 

Thence never to return, 
But evermore with anguish sore 

Of livid flame to burn ! 

While those there were who could infer 

That this man's oddities 
Invited ban, Browns thought the man, 

Forgiven his vagaries, 

Had journeyed where in upper air 

He entered into rest, 
Had sought the sky and found on high 

The country of the blest. 

They thought in heaven he had forgiven 
Those who could curse a Brown 

And relegate to brimstone fate 
Of the infernal town — 

Thought he forgave those who would crave 

Upon the life he led 
On earth, a curse, and hell disburse 

Into an old man dead ! 



THE COBBLER AND THE SMITH. 



'THE Smiths consigned, besides the Browns, 

The smith to future flame — 
Not Smith by name, but village smith, 

And Jacob Jones by name. 

A cheery man was he, of whom 

The memory never tires. 
Bright flaming seems the smithy still 

With Jacob Jones's fires. 

Near by, the shop where Crispin Crane, 

Adept at boots and shoes, 
Regaled his patrons with his wit 

And heard and told the news. 

Both Jones and Crane the Smiths elect 

Foredoomed to future wrath, 
In which there was not even hope 

Of any heavenward path ! 



THE COBBLER AND THE SMITH 

Yet neither cared that Calvinists 

Did bitterly despise, 
And neither wept to find he found 

No favor in their eyes. 

And as upon his anvil hard 

The vulcan's hammer rang 
In keeping with the merry tunes 

Of ditties that he sang, 

And came he in his rhymes upon 
The words that punctured well 

The Smiths for eagerness displayed . 
In sending Browns to hell, 

With greater vigor smote the man 

Upon his anvil down, 
And said, "How now, you Smiths, about 

The fate you give a Brown !" 

The war came on and Jones went forth 

To battle for the right, 
And in the strife he won renown 

And fell at Lookout Height. 



THE COBBLER AND THE SMITH 3 I 

And when his comrades bore him home 

And all the people came 
To see his form, and rang aloud 

The country with his fame, 

Then Parson Bright, the Calvinist, 

Sent him to heaven direct, 
And even Deacon Smith declared 

The patriot "was elect !" 



The cobbler Crane who measured feet 

The people came to find 
Had the capacity to tike 

The measure of their mind ! 

By timely repartee he stilled 

The town's perplexing bore 
Who perpetrated bitter jokes 

On people at the 'Store." 

And Smitbville vowed, town-meeting day, 

"Who can this pest defeat 
Shall be elected here and now 

To legislative seat." 



32 THE COBBLER AND THE SMITH 



And Parson Bright and Deacon Smith 

Each voted for the man 
Whom they had each declared foredoomed 

To an infernal ban ! 

Crane proved a wise assemblyman, 

Was hearty with his friends, 
And never made a speech unless 

To compass worthy ends. 

It was this year in politics 

A party rose and fell 
Whose bad disaster at their schemes 

It is a joy to tell. 

Late in the term a question rose 

Which was this party's test, 
And for it long their leader spoke 

With artificial zest ; 

And, in his final flight, declared, 

"How favored is the land 
Where, sentinels of public peace, 

Labor reformers stand !" 



THE COBBLER AND THE SMITH 33 



Exclaimed the Smithville man in glee, 
" 'Labor reformers !' sure — 

Reformed from labor ! yes, indeed j 
A ad never nime was truer. 

"Below the wrath of common men, 
Too cheap for ours by half, 

We'll not oppose your plannings, but 
Explode them with a laugh !" 

The wit that beamed in Crispin's eyes 

Put all in merry mood, 
And rang around the galleries 

The shouts of "right" and "good !" 

The gavel man forgot to rap, 
Reporters dropped their notes ; 

The measure then was called and had 
Only a dozen votes. 

And that's the way the party died, 

By this sarcastic Crane ; 
And hence the reason he was sent 

Assemblyman again. 



34 ABFJAH BEERS 



And still again was he returned. 

Until six times in all ; 
Nor by the lures of lobbyists 

Did he from honor fall. 



ABIJAH BEERS. 

AT Smithville was a man of sin 

Who had been sure the purse to win 
Had he and Satan run a race 
On any course away from grace ! 
This tedious thorn, Abijah Beer c , 
With native skill for causing tears, 
Selected meanness for his art 
And practiced it with all his heart, 

Until, perfected, tactful, strong 
For every business that was wrong, 
He seemed a sprite from darkness sent, 
x\nd trouble grew where'er he went. 
Accomplished in the subtleties 
Of deftly causing miseries, 



GABE THOMPSON, SINGING MASTER 35 

He cloaked his greed with graciousness 
And when he cursed appeared to bless ! 

The skies protect if here again 
So bad a man 'mong living men ; 
And never was, since time began, 
So much of meanness in a man. 
To find a place for such to dwell, 
The liberals would have a — hell ! 
He died at last as fools do die ; 
Thistles thrive where his ashes lie ! 



GABE THOMPSON, SINGING MASTER, 

J^ESOUNDETH yet the psalmody 

That Smithville used to hear 
To "Lenox" sung, or dear "Dundee," 

Or old delightful "Mear." 
Re-echoed from the other days, 

Pulsate those songs again, 
The simple, trancing, homely praise 

That charmed the people then. 



36 GABE THOMPSON, SINGING MASTER 



Still voiceful are the singers' seats 

With "fugue tunes" high and low, 
And still "Gabe" Thompson leads the feats 

Of "do, re, mi, si, do !" 
John Gabriel Thompson was his name — 

'Twas "Gabe," for short, you see ; 
And people gladly gave him fame 

As king of psalmody. 

Assembled by the meeting bell 

from all the country round, 
The people wait to hear him tell 

The singers "all please sound." 
And now leads on, this chorister, 

With tuning-fork in hand, 
As grand as valiant captains are 

With armies to command. 

When Thompson hymned the flower that grows 

"By cool Siloam's shady rill," 
With heavenly sweets from Sharon's rose 

The meeting-house would fill ! 
And when the theme was "Jordan's flood" 

And "fields of living green," 



GABE THOMPSON, SINGING MASTER 37 



He sang as if he understood 
All features of the scene ! 

From "Zephyr's" gentle consequence 

And "China's" sad delight, 
He rose to "Denmark's" excellence 

And soared to "Ariel's" height, 
And swept through "Majesty" sublime, 

And in the hymning showed 
Jehovah on the winds of time 

"Come flying all abroad !" 

\\ hen "Invitation's" notes he sung, 

The "hills where spices grow" 
Sent forth the breath to make one young 

As "youthful hart or roe !" 
His "Coronation" gladdens yet, 

For well he caught the theme 
That led poetic Perronet 

Along his tuneful dream. 

It gave the people great delight 

To hear, to "Sherburne's" sound, 
"While shepherds watched their flocks 
by night 



38 GABE THOMPSON, SINGING MASTER 



All seated on the ground !" 
They listened breathlessly to hear 

O'er wild Judea's plains, 
Commingling with the chorister, 

The glad angelic strains 

About the child of Bethlehem, 

And thought they saw the star 
By light of which the sages came 

From some strange country far, 
And reverent poured their myrrh and gold 

To Him, the wondrous fair, 
The Prince by prophets long foretold, 

Throned in a hovel there ! 

At last "Gabe" Thompson went up higher- 
Good singers never die ! 

And there's no doubt he's leading choir 
Somewhere beyond the sky ! 

And mingling with the minstrelsy 
Of the angelic lays 

The cadence of the psalmody 

That charmed the Smithville davs ! 



SQUIRE SMITH 39 

And if the angels in the song 

Should be too high or low 
He'd have them stop and practice long 

With "do, re, mi, si, do !" 
And if his namesake interferes 

"Gabe" Thompson will declare, 
"If Gabriel doesn't want to hear — 

There's room for him elsewhere !" 

SQUIRE SMITH. 

QLD Mister Smith of Smithville died 

Two weeks ago to-day ; 
'Twas always thought the person lied 

Who said he'd pass away. 

With buoyant step and fragrant breath, 

And face with health aglow, 
He seemed no older near his death 

Than twenty years ago ! 

Yet gone he has, at last, from earth, 

As everybody must, 
Of noble or of lowly birth, 

Unrighteous they or just. 



40 SQUIRE SMITH 



Elnathan Smith, Esquire, was he ; 

For such the town's desire, 
To honor his ability, 

The guv'nor made him squire, 

To try such cases as arose 
O'er mooted boundary lines ; 

And if two ne'er-do-wells had blows, 
To fix the proper fines. 

Ere this he taught the village school 

Of an adjoining place, 
Maintaining there a pleasant rule 

With dignity and grace. 

To Washington he never went, 
That town of high import ; 

Yet twice had been as juror sent 
x\nd once to General Court ! 

He had good sense and ready wit 
And kept whate'er he heard 

That was for keeping really fit, 
And always kept his word. 



SQUIRE SMITH 41 

To patriotic teachings true, 

He deemed of highest worth, 
And kept, as other people do, 

The '-'great and glorious Fourth !" 

He spurned a miser as a thief, 

And acted "on the square," 
And those not Masons have belief 

That Smith had once "been there !" 

Attending church in holy time, 

As everybody should, 
He "joined" in prayer and Sunday rhyme, 

As pious people would. 

In later years he strolled in town 

On pleasant afternoons, 
Attired in garb of modest brown 

And humming cheery tunes. 

He kept his temper all the while 

Unmarred by frown or fret, 
And gave a penny and a smile 

To every child he met. 



42 SQUIRE SMITH 



He had no children of his own. 
His wife had long since died ; 

He was to all the people known, 
To all the Smiths allied. 

Yet differed he from other Smiths, 

Nor by a mile did he 
Admire the Calvinistic myths 

Of their theology. 

Yet Smith kept in the old church till 
The New Lights came along 

Repeating "whosoever will" 
For shibboleth and song ! 

And then he chose the Wesleyan faith, 
And kinsfolk high and low 

Declared 'twas "sartin sure" as death, 
To — somewhere he would go ! 

And Parson Bright was moved to grief 
And mourned the lapsing man, 

And then denounced the new belief 
As "counter to God's plan;" 



SQUIRE SMITH 43 



Decried the faith to make it less, 

And most unwisely, so — 
Denounce the faith of earnestness, 

And it is sure to grow. 

And half the Smiths of Smithvilie came 
The New Light folks to praise, 

Admire their creed, and take their name, 
And walk their sunny ways. 

And those still Calvinists, forsooth, 
Gave warmer doctrines place 

And emphasized the pleasant truth 
Of God's forgiving grace, 

Compelling, thus, their minister 

To mellow or resign — 
He called a meeting to confer, 

They brought him into line ! 

And other Calvinists declared 
That they had been the light ! 

And other preachers also shared 
The views of Parson Bright ! 



44 SQUIRE SMITH 



Outgrowing former straits and wants, 
The Wesleyans came to power, 

With rulers for communicants 
And millions for their dower. 

Not oft who hath foundations laid 

Beholds the temple done ; 
Vet Smith saw all this progress made 

In work he saw begun. 

Though dear his place of triumphing, 

He went one sunny day 
Far off to hear the angels sing — 

And thought it best to stay ! 

His life at Smithville which began 

Closed there at eighty-four, 
And Smithville mourns that this good man 

Has gone, to come no more. 



RETROSPECT. 



TJOW fondly memory lingers still 

O'er childhood's simple joys, 
An 1 fancy paints with magic skill 
The scenes we knew as boys — 

Kind memory holding them as ours 

From that far day to this, 
And giving now to childhood's flowers 

The rarest tints of bliss ! 

The old homes crumbled long ago 

Before us stand anew ! 
And faces that we used to know 

Remembrance brings to view, 

While missioned by the kindly sky, 
From some far heavenly hill, 

The voices of the days gone by 
To us are speaking still ! 



46 RETROSPECT 



The nooks remain wherein we played, 
The squirrels chirp as then, 

And blooming in the beechen shade, 
The wild flowers deck the glen ! 

And yonder smiles with pansies bright 
The yard to childhood dear, 

Where morning glories give delight 
And lilac blossoms cheer ; 

While southernwood and pungent sage 

From hard-by garden give 
The perfume of the simple age 

In which we used to live. 

And fragrant on the pleasant air 

The constant apple trees 
Of sweetings and of pippins fair 

Kxhale their prophecies. 

Joy greens the meadows of the May 

xAnd, later, shall attune 
To hope's inspiring roundelay 

The robins of the June ! 



RETROSPECT 47 



Enhearten for the fervid rays 

Of the midsummer heats 
And charm the autumn into days 

Of rarest tints and sweets ! 

Near by the hardhack pasture where 
The sheep contented browse, 

The farm-horse and the oxen share 
The clover with the cows. 

The same clouds pasture on the sky, 
Kept by the shepherd stars ; 

And fancy's armies still on high 
Enact their phantom wars ! 

The airy hosts with gleaming steel 

Assemble in array, 
And trumpets call, and squadrons wheel 

And plunge in mimic fray ! 

And still the whispering zephyrs tell 

Of innocence and love, 
Yet mutter wrathful notes as well 

Of battle waged above. 



4 8 RETROSPECT 



And we have found in real life 

The trend of things to be 
Like alternating peace and strife 

In scenes of memory ; 

Yet found love dominant o'er hate 

And justice over wrong, 
The humble honored by the great 

And fostered by the strong ; 

And shines the sun that never fails 

Though skies are overcast, 
And gladness over gloom prevails 

In memories of the past ! 

The ancient well-sweep poises high 

Above the waters where 
We gazed far down to see the sky 

Mirrored in beauty there, 

And stars discerned, though none were seen 

To gem the r upper blue — 
Humility and faith serene, 

To heavenly lustre true ! 



RETROSPECT 4 9 



Athirst, we plunge the bucket down 

And bring the treasures up 
Excelling wealth of monarch's crown 

Or wine of Hebe's cup ! 

There, purling from its hillside spring, 
The brook we heard when young 

Repeats the joyous caroling 
That was to childhood sung ! 

Oft when from berry-picking kept 

By sweetness of the song 
We stayed until from joy we wept, 

And then, entranced but strong, 

Remained till dark all unafraid, 
When, such had been the charm, 

The homeward walk through goblin shade 
Gave not a thought of harm. 

That music lingers with us still, 

Enhancing later joys, 
And fancy sings with magic skill 

The song we heard when boys ! 



5o 



ENVOY 



Inspiring thought ! forever ours, 

From that far day to this, 
The brook that charmed our childhood's 
bowers 

With cadences of bliss ! 



ENVOY. 

AND now, Mayfair of Mansfield Square, 

My playmate and my friend, 
Give you good heed to what you read 
In verses that I send 

Inviting you to a review 

Of scenes we knew of yore ; 
Come, take a day, and with me play 

That we are boys once more. 

Quit office cares, and town affairs, 

And urban ways, and fly 
By road that leads to hills and meads 

We knew in days gone by. 



ENVOY 5 i 



There brooklets sing, and robins wing 
Their buoyant, joyous flight, 

Pouring their song the whole day long 
To cadence of delight. 

Come, drop your load and take the road 

To Smithville town, and see 
What quick relief from cares and grief 

There is in memory 

Of mellow chimes that blessed the times 

Of life's serenest joys, 
In thought of ways of those dear days 

When you and I were boys ! 



IN '98 



ONWARD. 



\TOUR country calls, ye freemen, 

Your country calls again 
For valor and devotion 

Of patriotic men, 
Columbia calls, ye freemen, 

And shall not call in vain ; 
Your country calls and Cuba, 

Your country and the Maine ! 

Onward, ye robust thousands 

Ready to dare and do, 
With Miles and Lee for leaders, 

Go fight the battle through. 
Right onward to Havana, 

A firm intrepid train, 
With three times three for country 

McKinley and the Maine ! 



56 ONWARD 



The North and South united, 

The Gray will join the Blue 
And give the cruel foemen 

The punishment their due ! 
Who fought each other bravely 

On many a reddened plain 
Shall join to free the Cubans 

From those who wrecked the Maine ! 



Now here's to gallant Dewey, 

To Dewey and his crew ; 
And here's to Captain Sampson, 

And brave "Bob" Evans, too. 
Go join their fleets, ye brave men, 

And by your deeds explain 
That those whose patience waited 

Do not forget the Maine ! 

And here's to 'Merrie England," 
And bonnie Scots as well, 

And all the freedom-loving 
In every land that dwell. 



ONWARD 



They all admire your valor, 
Nor shall they look in vain 

To those who love the banner 
That floated from the Maine. 

Onward to battle, heroes ; 

Ye good and loyal tars, 
Invincible the seamen 

Whose standard is the stars ! 
Arid foot, and horse, and gunners, 

Ye will not bring a stain 
Upon the starry banner 

The ensign of the Maine. 

Ye freemen of the Union 

Ye war for God and right, 
Ye war against the tyrant 

And ye shall win the fight ! 
Though fierce and long the contest, 

Ye shall not war in vain 
But rid the Cuban island 

Of those who wrecked the Maine. 



57 



ONWARD 



They starved the helpless thousands 

Till they were glad to die, 
And railed in fiendish laughter 

At their despairing cry ! 
Then artful lied to Heaven 

About the Cuban slain, 
And later slew the seamen 

Who manned the steamer Maine- 



And looked again to Heaven, 

Protesting to the skies 
Their love for Cuban progress 

And Cuban liberties ! 
And by their lies emboldened 

They answered with disdain 
To those who mildly questioned 

The wrecking of the Maine. 

O, Heaven ! did erstwhile Herod, 

Or Nero, or the crew 
Who in the Inquisition 

The other martyrs slew, 



ONWARD 59 

Exceed these modern monsters, 

These later fiends of Sp.iin, 
Who starved the Cuban thousands 

And wrecked the gallant Maine ? 



Though bravery is patient, 

Though patience is sublime, 
Though forgiveness is virtue 
And resentment is crime, 
Though peace is ennobling 

And the amenities 
Tnat come without dishonor 
Are- beautiful and wise- 
When starving thousands dying 
To Heaven breathe their cry 
That tyrants be forbidden 
Compelling more to die, 
Ho a- long shall patience tarry 
From conflict that will save 
The helpless from the tyrants- 
How long is patience brave ! 



6o ONWARD 



Placate the Spanish monsters ! 

And graciously infer 
That psalmody will tame them 

And lullabys deter 
From adding to the thousands 

Of those their hate hath slain, 
From other deeds as dastard 

As that which wrecked the Maine 



Deck Lucifer for sainthood 

When Aragon shall turn 
From rapine and from murder 

Or when Castile- shall yearn 
With pity for the starving 

Or to conscience attain 
And repent of the horror 

Of exploding the Maine ! 

Evangelize with armies 

And preach with shot and shell- 
When reasoning with demons 

Use arguments of hell ! 



ONWARD ^ I 



They understand such logic ; 

And tenderness were vain 
On those who starved the Cubans 

And wrecked the steamer Maine 



Be quick to note repentance 

And heed the honest tear, 
But see that Spanish monsters 

Make their contrition clear ; 
And, vigilant in kindness, 

Remember well that Spain 
Would starve still other thousands 

And wreck another Maine ! 

And boastful blazon ever 

Before the earth and sky 
The chivalry of teaching 

Their vassals how to die ! 
And ask the earth to join them 

Ani shout with might and main 
The gallantry of tyrants, 

The chivalry of Spain ! 



62 DEWEY AND THE DONS 



Your country calls, ye freemen, 

Your country calls again 
For valor and devotion 

Of patriotic men. 
Your country calls, ye freemen, 

Nor shall it call in vain — 
You country calls and Cuba, 

Your country and the Maine ! 



DEWEY AND THE DONS. 



VyHEN Dewey went a-sailing once 

In foreign seas afar, 
He demonstrated to the dons 

What Yankee seamen are. 
He carried cannons on his ships 

And "shotted" them aright, 
Proceeding then to make it plain 

That Yankee tars can fight. 



DEWEY AND THE DONS 63 



When Dewey went a sailing once 

Out in Manila bay, 
And gave the dons a lesson there 

It was a lively fray. 
And, O, it was a merry tune 

That Dewey's gunners played, 
A tune the Spainards could not dance. 

But one that they obeyed ! 



When Dewey went a- sailing once 

To usher in the May 
That captain and his seamen had 

A most compelling way. 
He woke the drowsy dons from sleep 

Before the morning light; 
And now remaining dons aver 

That Yankee seamen fight. 



THE SECOND. 



"MOW to the gallant Second let all give honor 

due — 
Our legion of the Bay State and of our country, too, 
As forward in their duty they go to fight our wars, 
And carry on to glory the standard of the stars ! 

They go to teach the tyrants the banner of the free 
Means hatred of oppression and meaneth victory ! 
The God of battles guide them and shield them 

everywhere. 
And watchful angels ever give their especial care, 

Inspire them for the conflict and give unerring 
aim, 

And honor still their colors, their country and 
their name ! 

Now three times three for leader and all the gal- 
lant band, — 



THE SECOND 65 



The Second of the Bay State, — our legion of the 
land ! 

And once again salute them and ever give them 

cheer 
And teach the valiant legion the country holds 

them dear ! 
And when the war is over may they return again, 
Ennobled by the struggle — our good and gallant 

men ! 



OTHER POEMS 



A TRIBUTE. 



HTHOU friend in that believing 

Which unto me is dear, 
Thy constancy of kindness 

Brings consummation near. 
Thou friend so quick to honor 

When otheis doubt and sneer, 
For thee their hate forgiving, 

For what thou art to me 
I thank the Heavenly Father, 

And pray His hand for thee 
In guidance and upholding 

Forevermore to be — 
His blessing here, the earnest 

Of heaven's felicity '. 



NATURE'S MOODS. 
I. 



T30WERLESS are nature's moods to voice 

The soul's extremities 
Of woe, and powerless they to speak 

Its highest ecstasies. 



When he who bravely gives a heart 
And longs for love's return 

Discovers that the one he seeks 
Delights his love to spurn, 



The wailing winds are not enough 
To chant the spirit's grief, 

And meagre the significance 
Of autumn's faded leaf ! 



For what the requiem of winds, 
And what the frosts that blight 

November days, when life to him 
Is one December night ! 



nature's moods 7 1 



II. 



Can morning winds through forests bare 
When night has not a star — 

Can barrenness of desert drear, 
Bleak, desolate and far 

From haunts of birds and homes of men 
With children's voices glad, — 

Can any scene of earth proclaim 
Ho.v wretched and how sad, 



How sore discomfited the one 
Who wooes and wins, to find 

That love, which should inspire and aid, 
Has forged a chain to bind 



In thrall more cruel than defeat- 
Ah ! loyalty that learns 

How worse the tyranny that hold 
Than haughtiness that spurns ! 



72 nature's moods 



III. 



Not all the breath and burgeoning 
■ That brings the bird whose lay, 
When winter's reign of dearth is done, 
With joy inspires the May ; 



Nor apple bloom, nor rarest rose, 
Nor most melodious tune 

Of all the harmonies that thrill 
The joyous days of June ; 

Nor waving wealth of wheaten fields 
That crowns the summer tide, 

Nor hues in which October sees 
The forests glorified, 



Can tell the greatest, sweetest bliss 
That ever gladdened earth, 

His joy who gives a heart, and wins 
A heart to prize his worth ! 



A SONG OF OTSEGO. 



f)F all enchanting rivers 
That sing to cheer the earth, 

Or hymn the praise of beauty, 
Or speak the fame of worth, 

What one has grander cadence 
Than Susquehanna's tide? 

Can one with finer sweetness 
Than Unadilla glide ? 

Nerves one to higher valor 
For war against the wrong? 

Flows one with nobler numbers 
To teach the poet song? 

And fit it is, ye rivers, 

That well your waters ring ; 

For where is worth exceeding 
The excellence ye sing? 



A SONG OF OTSEGO 



The chivalry and genius 
That give Otsego fame 

Deserve, enchanting rivers, 
Your grandeur of acclaim 

And song of all the waters 
That anywhere on earth 

Proclaim the praise of beauty 
Or hymn the fame of worth J 

Sing sweet, O Susquehanna, 

And Unadilla sing, 
Until the birds and zephyrs 

Shall join the chorusing, 

Until the highest angels 
Commissioned of the skies 

To bless the earth with music 
Enhance the harmonies 

Of river, bird and zephyr 
That celebrate the worth 

Whose lustre from Otsego 
Illuminates the earth ! 



'THE PAPER." 



13 E it the ponderous city print 

Depicting urban ways, 
With columns crowded with details 

Of enterprise and frays ; 
Or, less pretentious, less disturbed, 

The country weekly calm, 
Delighting well the villagers 

With sentences like balm — 

Tt hath important mission, fraught 

With all that blesses earth, 
And often maps the surest road 

To usefulness and worth. 
It hath the ward of interests 

High, ever-during, great ; 
Minute as little hamlets are, 

And wide as is the state. 



7 6 



THE ALLOPATHS 



The writer at his paragraphs, 

The printer working by— 
I pray their health and happiness 

May never come to "pi;" 
And that the sheet they print may live 

For many years to come, 
Prepaid, respected, and the light 

Of rail-car, 'change and home. 



THE ALLOPATHS. 



T WISH that all the allopaths 
Had all their sins forgiven 

And were translated from the earth 
To some far distant heaven ! 

And all their books of medicine, 
And all the drugs they mix 

Were ferried far and finally 
Beyond the river Styx ! 



SOME CRITICS 7 7 



May light be given with coming years 

And mild "botanies" rule 
Till his'ory alone shall tell 
About another school ! 



SOME CRITICS. 



'THE wicked wish some critics have, 
And knack and greed, to kill, 

They think high evidence of taste 
And proof of master skill. 

To them all writers are at fault 

The finest paintings stuff. 
And singers at their best too cheap 

To honor with rebuff ! 

Vet may not pen, and brush, and harp 

Still claim attention where 
These critics should, of course, receive 

By f-ir the greatest share ! 



78 SOME CRITICS 



For were there none to paint or sing, 

Or write in verse or prose, 
What such as they would find to do 

Is more than mortal knows. 

They might ascend the upper spheres, 

To criticise the stars 
And teach good manners and good sense 

To Jupiter and Mars, 

Then clip away old Saturn's rings 

And set him bounds to run, 
Or venture near the solar fires 

To regulate the sun ! 

And should they reach the better land, 

They would not blush to tell 
The angels how to tune their harps 

To sing hosannas well ; 

Nor for their colors to rebuke 

The alchemists of heaven, 
Nor fail to painters there to say 

How poorly they had striven 



SOME CRITICS 79 



In limning landscapes that entranced 

Apollo and his host, 
While heavenly choirs from hymning turned, 

To wonder and to boast ! 

These critics would condemn the style 
In which the saints are dressed, 

Insist on changes to improve 
The mansions of the blest, 

Ani, raw recruits from earth, presume 

To dictate, there, on high, 
The way archangels ought to wheel 

The armies of the sky, 

And think themselves empowered to lead 

The squadrons sent afar 
To subjugate rebellious worlds 

Or win a wayward star ! 

With coolness they descant upon 

The highest works of man, 
And were creation built anew 

On a sublimer plan, 



So SOME CRITICS 



They yet would think the universe, 

Was theirs to criticise, 
And would not fail to carp against 

The reconstructed skies ! 



